Air unit gauges storm damage from sky

From the air, Ventura County looks like one big soggy mess, dissected by muddy veins of rivers flowing to the sea.

There are campgrounds closed because of flooding, sheets of water dumping over the Matilija Dam and trees downed by powerful winds.

But as Ventura County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Frank Underlin looked down from the department's helicopter, he offered a bit of perspective.

"This doesn't look bad," he said Thursday as he flew a reconnaissance mission to assess the damage done by this week's rain. "This is one-tenth of the water of 2005," when floods did millions of dollars in damage and killed 10 people.

The department's air unit has been busy during this week's storms. It pulled a stranded hiker from a mountaintop after a mudslide, responded to calls of distressed surfers and, as it did on Thursday, surveyed for spots where trouble could be brewing. The unit will give a report to the department's Office of Emergency Services to keep it up to date.

After lifting off from the Camarillo Airport, pilot Jim Dalton pointed the helicopter toward Calleguas Creek. Though it looked like frothed chocolate milk, it was still well within its banks and far from flooding.

"There is a long way to go" before it causes any problems, Underlin said.

From there, they flew to Santa Paula, where it wasn't the Santa Clara River, but Sespe Creek that held the most water. The creek drains a large swath of Los Padres National Forest and can lead to flooding in the Santa Clara River.

But Underlin noticed there were still patches of dry islands dotting the river, meaning it had a long way to go before it approached flood levels. They searched for a reported mudslide, but after finding nothing, they headed toward Ventura.

A dispatcher requested they check out a report of a tornado in Ventura. Though they wondered about the wisdom of using a helicopter to check on a tornado, they headed toward the clear skies in that area.

They made three passes over damaged greenhouses and a handful of trees downed by wind.

With nothing more to see, they headed toward the ocean, where the Santa Clara and Ventura rivers were dumping untold pollutants into the sea. McGrath State Beach was below, but instead of tents, there was a lake flooding the campground.

They flew up the Ventura River and over the defunct Matilija Dam, where a curtain of water cascaded over it. Finally, after a check on La Conchita, they returned home.

The skies were clear by late Thursday afternoon, but Underlin knows it could be a very busy day in the air today with just a bit more rain.